A Good Friend
by Dreamer Boy
Summary: When Rinoa begins to have doubts about whether Squall loves her or not, it's up to Selphie to reassure her how beautiful she is. One shot. Rinoa and Selphie friendship story.


**Hey, guys. :) Here's a Final Fantasy VIII story by me. However, be warned; I have not played any of the games, so I don't know a great deal about the franchise. However, I am very interested in it and would very much like to play one of the games. I'm familiar with a few characters, since some of them appear in Kingdom Hearts, one of which is Selphie. I really wanted to write a story mostly about her, though this turned out to be mainly about her and Rinoa. I sure hope you enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII. It belongs to Square Enix.**

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Rinoa looked up at the night sky as she walked along the field, amazed by the full moon and thousands of twinkling stars. A small smile crept upon her face, but she was not feeling happy. When her friends had asked what was wrong earlier in the day, she had remained quiet, not wanting to talk about what was on her mind. Squall had just snapped at her for not coming clean, and she had simply ran away from the group heading into the field, wanting to be alone with her thoughts.

Looking away from the sky, Rinoa gasped and managed to stop herself from walking into the large lake that was in front of her. Regaining balance, she stood on the edge and looked down at her reflection, which was very clear, due to the bright moonlight. It displayed all of the seventeen-year old girl's facial features, which she looked at for a short while, then turned away, closing her eyes, letting out a small sigh.

The sound which followed gave her a huge fright; it sounded like a wolf's howl. It came from right behind Rinoa, making her jump and lose her balance. With a cry, she began to fall forward, about to fall into the lake. But then, something grasped her left hand tightly, stopping her from falling. Rinoa felt herself being pulled backwards by her hand as whoever had saved her – who must have also been responsible for nearly making her fall in – pulled her away from the edge.

Once the other person had stopped pulling her, Rinoa spun around, her face red, about to yell at whoever had nearly made her fall into the lake, but instead, she gave a sigh upon seeing that the person was none other than Selphie, who was looking very shamefaced.

"Sorry for nearly making you fall in, Rinoa."

"What did you do that for, Selphie?" Rinoa groaned, shaking her head, a hand to her forehead.

"I thought it would be fun." A grin crept upon Selphie's face. "And I saved you! That was pretty fun!"

Rinoa chuckled, shaking her head again. Selphie's ever-lasting longing to have fun in her own childish way was able to cheer the older girl up.

The grin on Selphie's face faded as she looked up at Rinoa with concern. Her green eyes were filled with worry. "What's the matter, Rinoa?"

"The matter?" Rinoa took a few steps backwards, but stopped on the edge of the lake. A troubled look was on her face, as if she was unsure of what to say. "Um…"

"You haven't been yourself all day." Selphie walked towards her friend. Rinoa was amazed to see a look of concern on the younger girl's face, instead of a cheerful and happy grin. "Why don't you tell me?"

Rinoa sighed and turned away from Selphie. She miserably looked down at her reflection. "I don't want to talk about it, Selphie."

"Why not?" Taking another step forward, Sephie placed her hand on Rinoa's shoulder. "I'm your friend, Rinoa. You can tell me anything."

Rinoa glanced over her shoulder at Selphie, then looked down at her reflection again. "Selphie…do you think Squall…has stopped loving me?"

"_WHAT?_" Selphie's green eyes widened her jaw dropped in disbelief. She pulled her hand away from Rinoa's shoulder, taking a few steps back. "That's ridiculous! How can you ask that, Rinoa? Squall loves you-"

"I know he once did – but I don't know about now."

"Why?" Selphie placed her hands on her hips, frowning at the older girl.

"It's just…he hasn't been very compassionate with me lately. We haven't done much together. I don't mean the whole group. Just me and him, you know? In fact, he hasn't been saying much to me. It's made me wonder…did I do something wrong…or…" Rinoa trailed off and looked down sadly at her reflection.

"Or what, Rinoa?" asked Selphie, her face full of worry once again.

"Selphie…" Rinoa looked over her shoulder at the younger girl. "Do you think I'm ugly?"

"_UGLY?_" Selphie hollered loudly, making Rinoa jump with surprise (and almost causing her to fall into the lake). "_YOU, RINOA?_"

"Yes," murmured Rinoa quietly, taken aback by how angry the usually cheerful Selphie sounded. "Me."

"Rinoa, you're being ridiculous here! You are not ugly! You are _beautiful_!"

"I…I am?"

"Of course! Look at you!" Selphie pointed at her friend, still frowning. "Standing in front of me, now this minute, is a very beautiful girl who Squall loves. She has lovely black hair, amazing brown eyes and a _very _pretty face."

Lowering her hand, Selphie sighed and stood by the edge of the lake. She looked down sadly at her own reflection. "In fact, Rinoa…I wish I was pretty, like you."

Rinoa gazed at Selphie wish surprise, unable to believe what she had heard. Smiling, she rested a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Oh, Selphie. You're very pretty-"

"Not as much as you, Rinoa." Selphie looked up at her friend with eyes full of sadness and admiration. "You are very pretty. Me an the others know that. The only one who doesn't know that is _you_. Squall is always going on about how beautiful you are." She looked down at her feet and closed her eyes. "Irvine never says that he thinks I'm pretty."

"Squall talks about how pretty I am?"

"Of course. If he's all alone with me or one of the others, he always talks about how beautiful you are and how you are always able to keep him under control. He also worries a lot about you."

"He didn't seem worried about me when he saw how miserable I was today. In fact, as you saw earlier, Selphie, he snapped at me."

"And as soon as you run off into this field, he grew worried. He started to run after you, but he didn't get very far. He tripped on a tree stump and hurt his knee. He was in a bit of pain, so I went after you instead."

"He hurt himself?" Rinoa gasped, clasping her hand to her mouth.

"I did," called a voice from behind them, "but I'm okay now."

The girls turned to see Squall limping towards them. He was clutching his left knee with his left hand and was struggling to stay on both feet. He grinned widely at Rinoa. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Rinoa rushed to Squall's left side and bent down. "Are you sure you're okay? I mean, Selphie told me you hurt yourself. This is all my fault-"

"No, it's mine." Squall shook his head. "I shouldn't have snapped at you. I'm really sorry, Rinoa. I just wanted to know what was wrong."

Rinoa shook her head with a smile, standing up straight. "It's okay, Squall. You were just worried about me."

"I still am," replied Squall, looking up at the girl he loved with concern. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I am now," Rinoa grinned, turning to Selphie. "A certain someone managed to cheer me up."

Squall managed to stand up straight as he grinned gratefully at Selphie. "Thank you for cheering her up, Selphie."

Selphie giggled and blushed modestly, holding her hands behind her back. "Oh, it was nothing."

"We'd better head back to the group," went on Squall. "Irvine is very worried about you, Selphie."

"He is?" Selphie squeaked in amazement. "Worried? About me?"

"Yes. And he said that when you come back, he wants to spend some time alone with you-"

Squall wasn't able to finish the rest of his sentence, for Selphie had quickly began to run off in the direction she had arrived. "I'm coming, Irvine! I'm ready for some time alone with you!"

Squall and Rinoa watched Selphie run until she was out of sight, then they both shared a laugh.

"Selphie sure can run," mused Squall between chuckles. "Isn't she hyper?"

"Yes," Rinoa whispered softly with a smile, walking around to Squall's right side. She gently rested her head on his right shoulder and her left hand on his left shoulder. "And she's a good friend."

Squall smiled and nodded in agreement. He put his right arm around Rinoa's shoulders, then turned and walked along the field towards the gate that he, Rinoa and Selphie had used to enter. As she was led along, Rinoa took a deep breath, breathing in the night air, and let off a sigh. She was happy again. She knew now that Squall loved her. A certain cheerful and energetic girl had reminded of that. Rinoa was very happy to call Selphie her friend.

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**If you didn't like this, it's okay. If you found lots of things wrong, please let me know. I made sure to do some research on Final Fantasy before I wrote this, but I'll definatly do a lot more if I decide to write another one.**


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